In 2021, I was a first-time lead pastor of a small congregation. I was single, paying my own bills, and wondering whether my next paycheck from the church would arrive on time. In that season, God clearly spoke to me and said that the church needed to plant a Dinner Church. I remember praying, “God, I need to grow this church. How do you expect me to start a whole new one?” God challenged my heart by reminding me that He had called me to the community I was in. I was forfeiting influence in most of the community because I was determined to stay in the church. The first night of Dinner Church was a huge step of faith, both personally and for our dying congregation. Over the last four and a half years, we’ve learned that funding a Dinner Church isn’t about having a large budget. It’s about building relationships, stewarding resources creatively, and trusting God’s provision. Here a menu of the most practical ways we’ve funded a weekly Jesus table in our community. Offering Box Each week, we placed a locked offering box on the dessert table. From the microphone, whoever is giving announcements that week will say something like, “The food here is always free! But if you would like to donate toward future meals, there’s a donation bin on the dessert table!” On average, we receive about one dollar per person in attendance. Keep it low-pressure and consistent. Over time, people begin to take ownership of the table. Community Connections Your mayor and town leaders have a vested interest in providing resources to the community. About twice a year, I go to our public town council meeting. I stand up during public comment, introduce myself, and give a 2-minute overview of our weekly meals. At the end, I give each council member a flyer and remind them that we are a resource if they come across anyone in need. Because of this, their employees donate all the food for our Thanksgiving meal each year, and they have given us a $31,500 grant because they know we exist as a valuable resource in the community. Once a year, we put a flyer for our dinner and candy in a bag or basket and take it to every local business with a note that says something like, “Thanks for being a valuable member of our community. If you know anyone who could use a meal, send them our way.” We also include information about how to sponsor one of our meals if their business would like to get involved. Many have. Donations In 2021 the World Wildlife Fund, Driven to Waste report revealed that 2.5 billion tons of food is wasted every year globally. That’s about 40% of all food produced. If that number feels too big, imagine every person throwing away 350 plates of food each year. There are literally tons of food to be had; you just have to know where to look and who to ask. We receive weekly donations from our local grocery store. We keep what we can use for dinner and distribute the rest on a grocery giveaway table each week. We are also members of our local food bank. We pay a small membership fee that gives us access to the food bank’s warehouse. Truck drivers are often responsible for disposing of any product that arrives damaged. We’ve received lots of perfectly good products in wrinkled boxes. Farmers are also often looking to move unsold and unused products. How do you get donations? Build relationships with people in your community! All of them! The ones with the food and the ones who need food. One of the most important lessons we’ve learned is this: don’t say no. If you take the full donation, even when it’s inconvenient, you become the easiest solution for that business. The easiest solution gets the first phone call next time. You will get items you don’t need. Share them with the community. Some of our best stories have come from a huge donation of a random item. Grants Grants should not be your main source of income, but they have been incredibly helpful in obtaining funding, equipment, and vehicles to make dinner happen each week. Organizations like Walmart, banks, realtor associations, and websites like 4Imprint offer easy-to-apply-for grants that can boost your impact. Before you apply for a grant, make sure you have your 501(c)(3) paperwork, statistics, and stories of how your dinner is impacting the community. Each grant requires different documentation, but these are common for most. Be creative in what grants you apply for. Your goal may be to meet needs and build community, but you are also likely rescuing food that would otherwise go to waste. You may also be providing opportunities for individuals who need community service. Each grant has a specific cause they care about. Don’t make things up, but make sure you recognize the full value you bring to the community so you can share that with organizations offering grants. I’ve found most of my grants by following local non-profits or para-church organizations that rely fully on grants. They usually have multiple full-time employees finding grants year round. When they thank a grant donor on their social media, I add it to my list of grants to explore. When we served that first meal, I wasn’t sure how we would sustain even a few weeks. Four and a half years later, God has provided over 30,000 meals, two vans, a trailer, freezers, and countless relationships that have transformed our community. My paycheck has never been late, and our budget has never been in the red. More importantly, people who once felt unseen now have a seat at the table. Dinner Church funding is not just a financial strategy. It is a discipleship journey. It teaches leaders and communities to trust that God provides through people, relationships, and unexpected sources. Provision rarely shows up as a lump sum. It often shows up as daily bread
Imagine gathering with friends around a campfire, holding a cup of hot chocolate while the fire crackles in front of you. There’s something about sitting around a fire that changes the way we relate to one another. The focus shifts away from ourselves and toward community. People slow down. Sitting side-by-side instead of face-to-face somehow makes sharing easier. Stories, games, laughter, and meaningful conversations seem to come naturally. A Different Kind of Gathering One of my favorite images in Scripture is found after Jesus’ resurrection, when He cooks breakfast for His disciples by the fire on the shore. The simplicity of that moment has always stayed with me. Jesus didn’t just teach in synagogues or from mountaintops. He also gathered people around meals, around ordinary moments, and around shared experiences. What if creating space for spiritual conversations could be that simple? The Outdoors Don’t Have to Be Extreme When we think about outdoor Fresh Expressions, it’s easy to imagine epic hikes, mountain adventures, or long-distance runs. While those can absolutely become meaningful spaces for connection and discipleship, outdoor Fresh Expressions can also be much simpler. Sometimes they can look like a backyard fire pit. I live in a parsonage, and we have a fire pit built from stones taken from a house on our property that was lost in a fire decades ago. There’s something powerful about gathering people around those stones now sharing with one another in a place that once experienced loss by becoming a place of hospitality, storytelling, and connection. A campfire feels accessible in a way that an epic outdoor adventure may not. It doesn’t require expensive gear, advanced skills, or being highly athletic. Almost anyone can gather around a fire, and yet those gatherings can become deeply meaningful spaces for connection, belonging, and spiritual curiosity. I’ve been to campfires with potlucks. I’ve cooked meals over the fire and baked sourdough bread in the coals. I’ve played ridiculous games around campfires with friends. I’ve shared campfires with strangers while camping and shared them with lifelong friends late into the night. I’ve watched bears wander by in the distance. I’ve sat beside the fire with my husband, talking for hours about what God is doing in our lives and communities. Again and again, I’ve seen how the outdoors create space for deeper conversations. Sometimes Mission Starts Small That’s really what the Outdoor Incubator is about. It’s not about creating extreme outdoor experiences or becoming an expert adventurer. It’s about helping leaders discover simple, meaningful ways to use the outdoors to connect with people in their communities. It’s about creating spaces where people who are curious about faith can encounter authentic community and begin exploring what a relationship with Jesus might look like. Sometimes mission starts with something as simple as lighting a fire, pulling up a chair, and making space for conversation.
What happens when the vision of Fresh Expressions is translated not only into another language, but into another cultural context? In this episode, we talk with Eliseo Mejia, who translated and contextualized Expresiones Divinas, the Spanish edition of Travis Collins’ book on Fresh Expressions. Eliseo shares how the ideas behind Fresh Expressions connect with the rhythms, relationships, and everyday spaces of Hispanic communities across the U.S. We also explore why making resources available in Spanish matters, because it is opening the door for more pastors and leaders to imagine new forms of church in their own contexts. Our hope is simple: to help place this resource into the hands of Spanish-speaking leaders and churches who are ready to cultivate new communities of faith where people already are. Rev. Dr. Eliseo A. Mejia is a highly regarded global coach, writer, missiologist, pastor, and church planting leader. He imparts his knowledge and wisdom as a teacher at Asbury Seminary in Willmore, Kentucky, and United Theological in Dayton, Ohio. In addition to his teaching roles, Dr. Mejia guides architects in diverse cultural and country settings, helping them navigate all stages of innovative projects from inception to completion. This is a BONUS episode of the Fresh Expression podcast. The Fresh Expressions podcast is currently in its seventh season where we are diving into the streams of Fresh Expressions — from senior adults and recovery ministry, to arts, outdoors, recreation, and more. Each month, you’ll hear directly from practitioners who are navigating these fresh ways of being church in the world. Their stories will spark your imagination and encourage you to see where God is already at work in your community and how you might join in! So whether you’re a pastor, lay leader, or simply curious about how church can thrive beyond the walls, join us for Season seven of the Fresh Expressions Podcast. Related Resources:
If you’ve ever felt like your ministry is unseen, slow, or harder than you expected—you’re not alone. In this episode of the Rural Renewal Podcast, Sam Peters shares wisdom from The Heart of a Small Town Pastor , offering encouragement for leaders who are in it for the long haul. From building meaningful relationships to leading with patience and protecting your family, this conversation is a reminder that God is at work in the ordinary, everyday faithfulness of pastoral life. Sam Peters is a pastor, author, and church coach with over four decades of experience in small-town and rural ministry. After retiring from bi-vocational pastoral work in 2024, he now encourages and equips leaders through Small Church Coaching. His newest book, The Heart of a Small Town Pastor , is a work of fiction shaped by real ministry experience—offering wisdom on leadership, perseverance, and the quiet faithfulness of shepherding a local church. Sam also creates Worship Rising, a weekly resource to help believers prepare for Sunday worship. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, Joyce. Chris and Kathleen Blackey , are hosts of the Rural Renewal Podcast. Since 2010, together they have served as co-pastors at the First Baptist Church of South Londonderry, Vermont. The Blackeys live in South Londonderry, Vermont with their children – Sarah, Daniel, and Priscilla, as well as their cat, dog, and chickens. Related Resources: The Heart of a Small Town Pastor (Amazon) Join our Facebook group: Rural Renewal Podcast Community Email us: podcasts@freshexpressions.com Subscribe & Review Help us get the word out by subscribing and leaving a review for Rural Renewal Podcast on your favorite platform. Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Podcasts
On the waters of Northwestern Pennsylvania , the steady rhythm of paddles cuts through the quiet—conversation drifting between kayaks, laughter echoing across the surface, and the beauty of creation all around. It doesn’t look like church. But it is. Here’s a quick look at what it is, how it works, and why it matters. What It Is Sacred Streams Kayaking is a Fresh Expression of church led by Jeff St. Clair, pastor of Saegertown United Methodist Church in Northwestern Pennsylvania. What began in Florida as a simple way to meet people on the water has continued in a new context—proving that a relational, outdoor expression of church can take root wherever people are. Today, it brings together church members and neighbors for kayaking, conversation, and simple spiritual practices. How It Works Participants gather for a kayaking trip, beginning with a brief time of prayer, scripture, and reflection before launching onto the water. As they paddle, conversations unfold naturally—creating space for relationships to deepen and faith to be explored in an unhurried, relational way. Open invitations are shared through social media and word of mouth, and partnerships with local outfitters help keep the experience accessible. Why It Matters Sacred Streams Kayaking reaches people who may never step inside a church building but are open to connection, community, and spiritual conversation. By meeting people in a place they already love—the water—it removes barriers and creates space for authentic relationships and encounters with God. It also offers a compelling reminder to other leaders: what starts as a small, context-specific idea can be reimagined and lived out in new places—wherever God leads. This snapshot was developed through thoughtful research using publicly available sources, including websites, news articles, community updates and a brief conversation with the pioneer.
On the waters of Northwestern Pennsylvania , the steady rhythm of paddles cuts through the quiet—conversation drifting between kayaks, laughter echoing across the surface, and the beauty of creation all around. It doesn’t look like church. But it is. Here’s a quick look at what it is, how it works, and why it matters. What It Is Sacred Streams Kayaking is a Fresh Expression of church led by Jeff St. Clair, pastor of Saegertown United Methodist Church in Northwestern Pennsylvania. What began in Florida as a simple way to meet people on the water has continued in a new context—proving that a relational, outdoor expression of church can take root wherever people are. Today, it brings together church members and neighbors for kayaking, conversation, and simple spiritual practices. How It Works Participants gather for a kayaking trip, beginning with a brief time of prayer, scripture, and reflection before launching onto the water. As they paddle, conversations unfold naturally—creating space for relationships to deepen and faith to be explored in an unhurried, relational way. Open invitations are shared through social media and word of mouth, and partnerships with local outfitters help keep the experience accessible. Why It Matters Sacred Streams Kayaking reaches people who may never step inside a church building but are open to connection, community, and spiritual conversation. By meeting people in a place they already love—the water—it removes barriers and creates space for authentic relationships and encounters with God. It also offers a compelling reminder to other leaders: what starts as a small, context-specific idea can be reimagined and lived out in new places—wherever God leads. This snapshot was developed through thoughtful research using publicly available sources, including websites, news articles, community updates and a brief conversation with the pioneer.
I’m the granddaughter of a grower, a horticulturist, and a pioneer who supplied the Eastern United States with delicious fruit and beautiful plants for decades. Growing up, I learned early that fertile fields don’t just happen—you prepare them. You walk the boundaries, test the soil, remove the rocks, and pray for rain. You learn to trust that the seeds you plant will bear fruit in time. That rhythm—preparing, sowing, tending, and trusting—has shaped how I see the church and the mission of God. Jesus tells a story in Matthew 13 about a sower who scatters seed with generous abandon. Some falls on rocky ground, some among thorns, and some on good soil that produces an abundant harvest. The sower’s work is not to force the growth, but to prepare the soil and make room for the Spirit’s increase. I think that’s what we’re doing in the Fresh Expressions movement—cultivating the kind of soil where the gospel can take root in the hearts of people who might never find their way into a sanctuary. When the Fields Called Wesley In the spring of 1739, John Wesley faced his own “field moment.” His friend George Whitefield invited him to preach outside the walls of the church—literally, in the open air—to miners and laborers who would never set foot in an Anglican parish. Wesley was hesitant. He had been formed as an Anglican priest, faithful to the order and rhythm of the church. But when he saw the crowds who were spiritually hungry yet far from the pews, he wrote in his Journal: “At four in the afternoon I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation.” — John Wesley’s Journal, April 2, 1739 Today, fewer than 1 in 3 Americans attend church services regularly, with only about 20% attending weekly and over half (57%) rarely or never participating in traditional religious gatherings. Meanwhile, nearly 30% of Americans now identify as religiously unaffiliated—a number that continues to rise each year. https://news.gallup.com/poll/642548/church-attendance-declined-religious-groups.aspx Yet, research consistently shows strong spiritual curiosity. For example, a recent study found that 66% of U.S. adults—even across generations—say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important today, and nearly a third of all Americans consider themselves “spiritually curious” despite not attending church. https://georgebarna.com/2025/02/most-americans-believe-in-a-supreme-power/ These trends echo the challenge that John Wesley faced—many people are unlikely to come inside church walls, but they remain deeply open to spiritual conversations and new expressions of Christian community outside traditional settings. That moment changed everything. Wesley didn’t abandon the Church of England; he sought to renew it from within by reaching those it had overlooked. His heart was not to create a rival church, but to extend the reach of grace—in his words to, “spread scriptural holiness throughout the land.” He knew the gospel could not be contained within the walls of even the most faithful parish. That is the beauty of the Methodist movement and perhaps what I most highly regard in Wesley’s theology. This important contribution to contemporary to Christian theogy is a both/and ness or as Wesley scholar Paul Chilcote refers to it “conjunctive theology” rather than either/or theology, that fleshes itself out in practical ways across our bridgebuilding tradition. Preparing the Soil Then and Now Wesley’s decision to take to the fields was not rebellion—it was reclamation. Both/And. He understood, as Jesus taught in Matthew 13, that the Word of God often meets resistance, but when the soil is ready, it multiplies thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold. The condition of the soil, in fact, did not prevent the Sower from scattering it generously if even perhaps, haphazardly. Wesley began organizing those who responded into small groups, or “societies, class meetings, and bands” where people could confess their sins, hear the stories and learn the ways of Jesus, and care for one another. Those early Methodists became gardeners of grace—cultivating holiness through community, discipline, and mission. That same pattern continues today in Fresh Expressions of church. We’re not creating something entirely new; we’re tending the fields Wesley and the circuit riders once rode through, believing again that God’s grace precedes us, is already at work, and wants to reach every person, in every place. We need only tend the soil of our communities. Whether it’s a dinner church, a running group, a recovery circle, or a coffee shop community, these expressions of church echo Wesley’s field preaching: going to where people are, not waiting for them to come to us. Sent in Pairs: Luke 10 and the Circuit Riders When Jesus sent out the seventy-two in Luke 10, He gave them clear instructions: “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves… Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.” (Luke 10:3–4) He told them to rely on the hospitality of others, to speak peace, and to heal. The mission was mobile, relational, and dependent on the Spirit. Those instructions could easily describe the circuit riders of early Methodism. They traveled light, trusted God to provide, and sought out people who hadn’t heard the good news. They were sent to proclaim grace, form communities of faith, and nurture discipleship in barns, taverns, and on front porches. Quite frankly, this depended on the everyday Christian and the ministry of the laity. The only way the Methodist movement was able to move across the American landscape was due to the empowerment of the laity. Today is no different. The people called Methodist speak to this value in our connectional system. These fresh expressions of church are one more way we can empower and deploy our laity while recapturing our Wesleyan roots like the circuit riders who paved the way for us today. Where might God be calling you to cultivate the soil in your own community? Who are the people on the edges—the ones who aren’t coming to church but whom Jesus longs to reach? How might you go, as Wesley did, to where the people already are? The circuit riders’ lives were marked by both grit and grace. They rode hundreds of miles through harsh weather, often sleeping outdoors (and sometimes even on horseback), driven by a conviction that no soul should be out of reach of grace. Their legacy reminds us that innovation in mission is never about novelty for its own sake—it’s about love that refuses to be limited by buildings or boundaries. Today’s Fresh Expressions pioneers share that same resilient spirit, seeking out the people and places where grace permeates the soil and seeds beg to break through. Cultivating Fields of Renewal Wesley often said, “The world is my parish.” It was both a statement of boldness and humility. He didn’t mean he owned the world; he meant the world was entrusted to him as a field of mission. Every village, every person, every pub, every workplace—each was soil in which the Spirit was at work. Today, our fields might look different—online spaces, neighborhood parks, assisted living facilities, tattoo parlors, or CrossFit gyms—but the call remains the same: to cultivate soil where grace can grow. When we experiment with new forms of church, we’re not forsaking the old fields; we’re expanding the boundaries of the parish. A Call to Go and Grow As the granddaughter of a grower, I know that preparing soil is slow, patient work. You can’t rush a harvest. You have to tend to what’s beneath the surface, trusting that God is already at work long before the first green shoots appear. As a Methodist, I recognize the same pattern in Wesley’s movement. His ministry took root because he went to the people and nurtured what God was already growing. Fresh Expressions today are simply another season in that same story—another generation of Methodists called to go, to till, to tend, and to trust. “I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.” — John Wesley, Journal, June 11, 1739 As Jesus said to His followers in Luke 10, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” (Luke 10:2) The same is true today. The harvest fields around us are ripe—with people longing for belonging, meaning, and hope. The invitation is simple: Go. Prepare the soil. Trust that God is already scattering seed generously. For the “both/and” Wesleys, John and his brother Charles, there was no holiness apart from social holiness. Put another way, there was no holiness of heart apart from life. The linchpin, “The only thing that counts is faith working itself out through love.”-- Galatians 5:6 For the Wesley’s, holiness of heart and life is the goal toward which every Christian life should move. Ask God to show you one “field” near you where the soil might be ready. It could be a local café, a dog park, a recovery meeting, or a place you already spend time. Pray for the people there. Listen for their stories. Ask God how you might join God to bring peace and presence, not programs and plans. Because the same Spirit that sent Wesley to the fields is still sending us— into the world that is, even now, God’s parish.
I’m a Holiness, Pentecostal, Anabaptist. You won’t find that combination coming together very often anywhere, but I have found that all three streams work well within the Fresh Expressions movement. Some might assume that the Holiness/Pentecostal part makes sense with Fresh Expressions, but how can the Anabaptist part work? Afterall Fresh Expressions is a movement founded within the Church of England? How does Anabaptist belief and practice fit with that? Let’s remember that the Fresh Expressions movement took root in the fields of post-Christendom England just a few decades ago. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Relational connections, networks of friendships were organically forming for mission in places of hurt, brokenness, marginalization. And outbreaks of the Spirit were happening. People were finding Christ in fresh and new ways. The church was happening among people that would never “go to church.” To their credit, the Anglican church leaders asked how can we support these movements and cooperate with what God was doing. Thus started a movement, the Mission-Shaped Church movement, as one of the founding documents was titled. It led to the Fresh Expressions movement in the UK and spread to North America. The Anabaptist movements have their origins 500 years ago in Europe, in the fields of post Christendom as well. In this case though, the Anabaptists were openly rejecting the Christendom alignment of church, state and culture. But like present-day Fresh Expressions, they represented the movements of Jesus happening outside the sanctioned four walls of the church and it’s hierarchies. As such, the two movements both started with Christians gathering outside the sanctioned practice and programs of the established church. And so we might expect that there’s much to learn from each other. Allow me to explore a few places where some of these learnings can happen. Christian leaders among the church of England noticed that people were gathering in places outside the four walls of the church buildings to encounter God. Post Christendom The medieval structures of the church, sponsored (and paid for) by the state, organized the church towards buildings, placing church authority in the offices of the priest/bishop, and coordinating the worship service and other programs of the church towards a uniform liturgy for all churches across the world. It was all part of Christendom. Anabaptists critiqued all of this, much of it for good reason. And this gave impetus for a reexamination of church outside the structures of the four walls of the Christendom church. In some ways, Fresh Expressions is doing today what Anabaptists have been doing for 500 years, the birthing of church expressions outside the walls and programming of institutional structure. Along with all this came an Anabaptist suspicion towards what had become the centralized leadership structures of the church and its proclivity towards hierarchy. Plagued with corruption, and abuse of power, Anabaptists left these medieval church hierarchies for more collaborative, organic forms of leadership. They sought to develop leadership “among” a people, not “over” a people. Five hundred years later, as we try to organize church outside the four walls of the church, what Fresh Expressions calls a ‘blended ecology,’ leadership will need to be organic in similar ways, doing the work of coalescing groups on the ground into the work of the Spirit. Anabaptists have some theology and history to offer Fresh Expressions in these tasks. But of course, it goes without saying, as with all movements, that over time institutions and bureaucracies get set in their ways. Five hundred years of Anabaptist history has shown how some of the best ideas on collaborative leadership, mutual and communal discernment, can go awry. Fresh Expressions has much to offer Anabaptists in this regard. Their work in training and developing new kinds of leaders can reinvigorate the Anabaptist work of developing leaders. Fresh Expressions can reinvigorate old histories, while Anabaptists can help in not repeating old mistakes. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Anabaptists bring wisdom. Fresh Expressions brings the ”fresh” eyes. Together, I believe, a dialogue can ignite both for the work of Christ’s kingdom. If Anabaptists have the history, Fresh Expressions has the energy. Community and Discipleship Anabaptists see the church as more than a collection of individuals who gather to receive religious goods and service from the professionals. American churches have sometimes fallen into that trap. Fresh Expressions and Anabaptists alike resist that consumer approach to church. For Anabaptists, the community is central to the life of the believer. This Anabaptist focus wards off the consumerist tendencies of our culture. For Anabaptists, fellowship around a table at a potluck meal is almost sacramental. It is a special place to encounter Christ. The church is an alive organism of the Holy Spirit whereby we discern life together and the salvation made possible in Jesus Christ becomes real and lived together. Christianity is not a religion. Church is not a set of programs. It is a way of life given to us in Christ, lived out under His Lordship over a community, made possible by the Holy Spirit. Discipleship moves to the forefront for Anabaptists because Christians can no longer depend on the culture of Christendom to support Christian life. It must be the church community itself that generates culture and life sufficient to nurture our souls into faithfulness. And so the church as a community, alive with the gifts of the Spirit, eating meals at a table, discerning the teachings of Scripture, become a whole way of life that disciples believers into the Kingdom. There can be no consumerism here. This changes the way we think about ecclesiology. Anabaptists focus on practices, that shape beliefs into behavior. The questions we ask shift. When is a community just an affinity group, when is it mission, when is it discipleship? What is the core practices of discipleship and community that ground us in Jesus? As Fresh Expressions builds communities and practices for building communities outside the church, the wisdom of Anabaptists is helpful. The Anabaptist focus on practices, not only beliefs or programs, is helpful. And yet, as Anabaptists seek to avoid their own communities from becoming insular, coercive or sectarian, they can learn communal formation for mission all over again at Fresh Expressions. Together, Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite both for the renewal of the kingdom in our neighborhoods. The Kingdom Versus creedal formulas, Anabaptists tend to focus on Jesus first, his whole life, his proclamation of the Kingdom of God coming in his presence. The gospel is the whole life of Jesus, his victory over sin, death and evil. And so salvation hardly makes sense apart from Jesus’ preaching of the Kingdom of God, the inauguration of the Kingdom, and the living in that Kingdom now in anticipation of its future. Salvation can never be only personal, it is intensely social. And salvation can never be only social, it is intensely personal andn transformation as I personally follow Jesus and make Him Lord of my life. It is this full gospel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and its inextricable link to the Kingdom that takes us beyond the individualist formulas. The Christendom forces in our history will always tempt us to turn salvation in Jesus into a formula Anabaptists of all streams can learn and be invigorated from the. But we must resist and learn the ways of calling people into something deeper. This is the heart of Fresh Expressions, it seems to me. Anabaptists can help Fresh Expressions with this call to something deeper. But sometimes Anabaptists can also get caught into an echo chamber. Over time our language and skills of communication lose the ability to engage the world outside the church. Fresh Expressions is ever pressing into how we can communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom into broken places. Once again, I believe, that Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions together, in dialogue, can ignite a renewal of evangelism and witness to the kingdom in our neighborhoods. Courage for new adventures must take hold. We’re In New Territory Now In summary, if there’s one thing I have learned from both Anabaptists and Fresh Expressions, it’s that once we understand the social dynamics of the new post-Christendom cultures, our entire missiology and ecclesiology must shift. Old habits must die. Courage for new adventures must take hold. And God is calling us into these new fields of post-Christendom to do mission. And for this calling, I am so blessed to have partaken of both the Anabaptists streams and Fresh Expressions streams of theology and practice. I pray God brings these two great historical movements together more in the future to accomplish great things for the Kingdom of God in Jesus name.
